Elmshall and the wider Roseau community are mourning Iona Merina Jno-Baptiste, known to family and friends as «Aunty Joana», who died on 15 August at the Dominica-China Friendship Hospital. She was 86.
Born Iona Merina Richards, she lived her later years in Elmshall and was remembered in her death announcement as leaving «a legacy of love and warmth», an absence felt deeply by all whose lives she graced. She was a familiar figure in the Elmshall and River Street communities, where neighbours counted her among their own.
She leaves her son, Egbert «Eggie» Jno-Baptiste, and two grandchildren, Erik and Mahira Jno-Baptiste. Her siblings Claudette Richards and Arthurley (Ras Abu) Richards survive her, along with a large circle of nieces and nephews including Candia Richards-Clarke, Carla, Josie, Gillian, Abiyah, Jeanette and Michelle, and Anthony «Tony» Guye, Michael, Marvin, Morris, Rannie and Djate.
Her extended family took in the Abraham, Richards and Jno-Baptiste families, with cousins Fred Abraham; Denise, Debbie, Adrian and Damian Grell; and Gloria and Josephine Dechausay among those named. Her caregiver Geraldine David, her godchildren Maureen Lander-White, Junia Isaac and Ian «Michael» Anthony, and neighbours and friends including Ernest D. St. Jean, Emmanuel and Jannette Moise, the Savarin family, Stevo and Albertha George, Kenneth Richards, Sam McDouval and Erickson Hypolite also survive her.
The family expressed particular gratitude to those who cared for her in her final illness. They named Fr Nigel Karam, Mr Ewait Bain and the Cathedral Hospitality (Ushers) family; Dr Fadipe, Dr Bruno, Dr Sanchez, Dr Henry and Dr Alfred; and the doctors, nurses and ward aides of the Accident and Emergency Department and the Dawbiney Ward at the Dominica-China Friendship Hospital, as well as the Roseau Health Centre. Mrs Celia Nicholas and the principal and staff of the Dominica Community High School were also remembered, along with many other relatives and friends both in Dominica and abroad, too numerous to mention.
The body of the late Iona Merina «Aunty Joana» Jno-Baptiste will be viewed at 2:30 p.m. on Friday 11 September, 2026 at Our Lady of Fair Haven Cathedral. The funeral service follows at 3:00 p.m., with interment at the Roseau Roman Catholic Cemetery. Funeral arrangements are entrusted to Gentle Rest Funeral Service Inc.
In a small island community, the passing of an elder of Elmshall is felt far beyond one household. The family's public notice, with its long roll of names, reflects the wide web of kinship, church and neighbourhood that sustained her, and the many people who will gather at the cathedral in Roseau to give thanks for her life.